Today marks one year spent recovering from one of the most
destructive attacks on the United States, but for the Muslim
community it marks another year of dispelling stereotypes and
blanket accusations of terrorism thrust on its culture.
Muslims in Los Angeles and the rest of the nation historically
have faced an uphill battle in bolstering their public perception.
The events of Sept. 11, 2001 made things considerably worse in this
arena.
“Right after Sept. 11, there was an uprise of Muslims
having to defend themselves,” said Mohammad Mertaban,
president of the Muslim Student Association.
Islamic extremists in the al-Qaeda terrorist network hijacked
four airplanes on that fateful Tuesday morning, flying two jumbo
jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and one into
the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Another plane crashed in rural
Pennsylvania.
The ensuing aftermath sparked a dramatic increase in suspected
hate crimes targeting Middle Easterners and Muslims in the three
months after Sept. 11.
According to the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission,
the period yielded 118 suspected hate crimes, compared with 14 in
all of 2000. The commission said this increase was the highest in
21 years.
“We’re still on defense all the time because of the
stereotypes about us,” Mertaban said. “Fingers are
pointed at us automatically.”
Many Muslim citizens in Los Angeles ““ who number about
500,000 ““ resent the criticism they have not done enough to
condemn the terrorist attacks.
“We are Americans as much as anyone else,” Naseen
Haroon, a civic activist in Santa Monica, said to the Associated
Press.
Haroon also said she’s afraid of disclosing her phone
number for fear of being targeted for a hate crime.
Another result of the attacks has been an increase in the study
of Islam, which some say has “skyrocketed” in the last
year.
“One thing that’s changed is everyone’s
increased interest (in Islam),” said Lynn Salahi, a UCLA
alumna and office manager for the University Muslim Medical
Association Free Clinic in south central Los Angeles.
“People are very curious,” she said. “The
challenge for the (Muslim) community is to use that as an
opportunity rather than as a setback.”
Mertaban added other ethnic communities at UCLA reaching out to
Muslims was an unexpected benefit in the midst of tragedy.
“We became more aware of each other’s
struggles,” he said.
As the anniversary of Sept. 11 arrives, some of the problems
that arose one year ago are resurfacing, in lesser-charged
forms.
“We were all in a hype after Sept. 11, but the passion
kind of cooled down,” Salahi said. “But as (the
anniversary) comes nearer people are more suspicious and
cautious.”
There are still those who use the attacks to perpetuate
preconceived stereotypes about Muslims, Salahi said, recalling an
encounter on Monday when she was driving in Los Angeles.
“Some teenagers were shouting, “˜go back to where you
came from,'” she said.
To help solve these longstanding conflicts, Mertaban and Salahi
both advocate people take time to learn about others’
cultures, not limited to the Islamic faith.
“You have to admit you have differences and there are
misunderstandings, and work toward a common answer,” Salahi
said. “It’s something that everyone really needs to
do.”
With reports from the Associated Press.